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At the end of each year, I like to look back at all the great moments and not so great moments. I spend a lot of time watching movies, and I like to make lists. So here is a list of the movies I saw that were released in 2005, ranked in order top being 1. I know there are a lot of great movies that I didn’t get a chance to see yet. There have also been a lot of good films I saw this year which were actually older releases like Oldboy which would easily make it near the top. Nevertheless here are the 2005 releases:

1. Munich - It’s hard to decide between the movies that were truly pure entertainment and the ones that bring up important topics and are technically and artistically excellent as the “best”. For the #1 slot I chose Steven Spielberg’s Munich. I think it’s an important topic to shed light on, an event that many people may not know much about. It’s also an important theme that relates to what’s going on in the world now, about how political retaliation and violence only increases as more is put forth. It’s also Spielberg’s best work since Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. It also doesn’t feel like a Spielberg movie. Sentimental bookends that typically come with Spielberg’s films are not here. The performances by all the actors are very well done. There’s not a moment in the film that doesn’t feel real.

2. Sin City - Robert Rodriguez has a knack for making films real cheaply and very quickly. I’m surprised Sin City was made so well. There was no screenplay or storyboards done, everyone just got copies of the graphic novels, and everything was filmed shot for shot. This was the film of the year for bringing something new. Visually it was like nothing I’ve seen before.

3. Batman Begins - This one truly surprised me. After a bunch of lame Batman movies, not much was expected. Sure a promising director was at the helm, but I didn’t know if he could pull it off. Suffice to say, he did. It was a whole new perspective on the caped crusader, and it was darker and more serious than before. I was almost tempted to put this movie at the top of my list.

4. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - If you read my posts lately, you know how much I’ve been praising Chan-wook Park in a run of films I’ve seen from him. Oldboy is truly a masterpiece and a defining Korean film to me. Lady Vengeance isn’t as good as that was, but it is very good in its own right. The violence is toned down from his other revenge movies, but the style is turned up. It has a good non-linear structure and a wonderful performance by the lead actress.

5. King Kong - Pure popcorn entertainment. Very excellent actions scenes when involving Kong and T-rex. The CG during the dinosaur stampede was a bit iffy. Jack Black’s performance was on and off, usually didn’t feel right. Naomi Watts was incredible and her interactions with Kong are amazing. Overall, the film was too long. Too much character development on minor characters, would’ve put it higher if it wasn’t for that.

6. Hustle & Flow

7. Good Night, and Good Luck

8. A History of Violence

9. Serenity - It really isn’t that great a movie overall, but being a Firefly and Joss Whedon fan it goes high on my list.

10. Crash

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Cinderella Man
War of the Worlds
Jarhead
North Country
Syrianna
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The 40-Year Old Virgin
Wedding Crashers
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Unleashed (Danny the Dog)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Constantine
Corpse Bride
Hostage
Coach Carter
Madagascar
The Island
Sahara
Fantastic Four
Flightplan
The Longest Yard
The Brothers Grimm
The Ringer
Robots
Doom - A movie that has to do a first person shooter sequence to remind everyone it was a video game.
Alone in the Dark - Uwe Boll, please quit making 40 million dollar student films. However, I will say that his films are good for making fun of.